UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

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Professor Kay Livingston, Director of the University of Glasgow International Educational Consultancy

Research interests

Kay Livingston is Professor of Educational Research, Policy and Practice in the Faculty of Education, University of Glasgow and works closely with policy-makers and practitioners at international, national and local levels to improve the quality of education. Central to her work is the development of learning and teaching strategies to encourage learners to take an active role in the learning process and prepare them for life and work in a global society. She is also Head of International Education at Learning and Teaching Scotland. Her work in this role includes research and development projects in international and intercultural education and leading and influencing strategic change in Scotland and overseas.

As the former Director of Scottish Teachers for a New Era she has developed a particular expertise in the research and development of new approaches to teacher education for the 21st century. In her work directing and leading policy and practice-related research and evaluation projects at national and international levels she has gained a wide range of experience in organisational and system change in education. The projects have included: school-based evaluation; assessment; thinking skills; intercultural education; citizenship; parental involvement in children’s education; curriculum flexibility; ICT in education; leadership and management and the professional development of teachers.

She has worked with government agencies and professional organisations in the UK and internationally including the Scottish Executive Education Department (now the Scottish Government), the Home Office, ESRC, Scottish Enterprise, Learning and Skills Development Agency, the European Commission, the Sage Foundation in New York, the Benton Foundation, the Johann Jacobs Foundation, and the Equal Opportunities Commission.

External appointments

  • Editor of the European Journal of Teacher Education
  • Member of UNESCO Scotland National Committee
  • Co-Chair of the Association of Teacher Education in Europe Research and Development Group Professional Development of Teachers
  • Chair of the International Education Reference Group; member of Partners in International Education Group; member of PISA Group
  • International Lifelong Learning Co-ordinating Group

Current memberships

  • Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts
  • General Teaching Council of Scotland
  • Scottish Education Research Association
  • Association of Teacher Education in Europe
  • Applied Educational Research Scheme
  • World Association of Educational Research

Recent keynote speeches

  • Stirlingshire Achieving Excellence Through International Education (2008)
  • Glasgow City Council International Education Conference (2007)
  • Aberdeenshire International Education Conference (2007)
  • West Dunbartonshire/Renfrewshire Raising Achievement Conference (2007)
  • Aberdeen City School Improvement Conference (2007)
  • Austrian Ministry of Education/Teacher Education Conference, Salzburg, Austria (2007)
  • Copenhagen Conference for headteachers and local authority personnel, Copenhagen, (2007)
  • Association of Australian Teacher Educators, Freemantle, Australia (2006)
  • International Syneva Conference, Tallin, Estonia (2006)
  • Being a Teacher in Europe International Conference, Vienna, Austria (2005)
  • International Syneva Conference, Hall, Innsbruck, Austria (2005)

Examples of funded research

  • Principal Investigator in the following Future Learning and Teaching Projects - the SCHOLAR Programme – an online learning programme; Cooperative Learning Project; and Arts Across the Curriculum.
  • Principal Investigator of Post-16 Pedagogy and Thinking Skills funded by Learning and Skills Development Agency.
  • Disadvantaged Teenagers and Technology funded by Sage Foundation in New York which investigated ICT projects in USA and Europe designed to motivate disengaged teenagers to take an active role in their own learning.
  • Evaluation of Scotland South Africa Interchange funded by SEED.
  • Evaluation of the Developing Effective International Education Project funded by SEED.
  • Evaluation of International Education funded by Glasgow City Council; Evaluation of Learning to Learn Programme in South Tyneside Schools (2002) funded by Tyneside Economic Development Cooperation and Evaluation of Digital Glasgow: Attitudinal and Behavioural Study funded by Scottish Enterprise (Glasgow).
  • Team member in the evaluation of Assessment is for Learning Project funded by SEED, and Evaluation of the Blueprint Programme funded by Home Office.
  • Team member in two of the Applied Education Research Scheme Networks, Schools and Social Capital and Schools Management and Governance.
  • Member of the Steering Group for the SYNEVA Thematic Network funded by the European Commission.
  • Member of the SEQuALs Project which ran international professional development courses and published a book concerning the link between evaluation process and school improvement.